'I understand,' Leia cut him off. They were almost to the lighted building now; and as they approached, a pair of short Noghri standing in the shadows pulled open the double doors for them. Taking a deep breath, Leia followed Khabarakh inside.
From the amount of light coming through the windows she would have expected the building's interior to be uncomfortably bright. To her surprise, the room they entered was actually darker than it had been immediately outside. A glance to the side showed why: the brightly lit 'windows' were in fact standard self-powered lighting panels, with the operational sides facing outward. Except for a small amount of spillage from the panels, the interior of the building was lit only by a pair of floating-wick lamps. Threepio's assessment of the society echoed through her mind; apparently, he'd known what he was talking about.
In the center of the room, standing silently in a row facing her, were five Noghri.
Leia swallowed hard, sensing somehow that the first words should be theirs. Khabarakh stepped to the Noghri in the center and dropped to his knees, ducking his head to the floor and splaying out his hands to his sides. The same gesture of respect, she remembered, that he'd extended to her back in the Kashyyyk holding cell. 'Ilyr'ush mir lakh svoril'lae,' he said. 'Mir'lae karah siv Mal'ary'ush vir'ae Vader'ush.'
'Can you understand it?' Leia murmured to Threepio.
'To a degree,' the droid replied. 'It appears to be a dialect of the ancient trade language-'
'Sha'eah!' the Noghri in the center of the line spat. Threepio recoiled. 'She said, 'Quiet,'' he translated unnecessarily.
'I understood the gist,' Leia said, drawing herself up and bringing the full weight of her Royal Alderaanian Court upbringing to bear on the aliens facing her. Deference to local custom and authority was all well and good; but she was the daughter of their Lord Darth Vader, and there were certain discourtesies that such a person should not put up with. 'Is this how you speak to the Mal'ary'ush?' she demanded.
Six Noghri heads snapped over to look at her. Reaching out with the Force, Leia tried to read the sense behind those gazes; but as always, this particular alien mind seemed totally closed to her. She was going to have to play it by ear. 'I asked a question,' she said into the silence. The Noghri in the center took a step forward, and with the motion Leia noticed for the first time the two small hard bumps on the alien's upper chest beneath the loose tunic. A female? 'Maitrakh?' she murmured to Threepio, remembering the word Khabarakh had used earlier.
'A female who is leader of a local family or subclan structure,' the droid translated, his voice nervous and almost too low to hear. Threepio hated being yelled at.
'Thank you,' Leia said, eyeing the Noghri. 'You are the maitrakh of this family?'
'I am she,' the Noghri said in heavily accented but understandable Basic. 'What proof do you offer to your claim of Mal'ary'ush?' Silently, Leia held out her hand. The maitrakh hesitated, then stepped up to her and gingerly sniffed it. 'Is it not as I said?' Kabarakh asked.
'Be silent, thirdson,' the maitrakh said, raising her head to stare into Leia's eyes. 'I greet you, Lady Vader. But I do not welcome you.' Leia held her gaze steadily. She could still not sense anything from any of the aliens, but with her thoughts extended she could tell that Chewbacca had left the ship and was approaching the house. approaching rather rapidly, and with a definite agitation about him. She hoped he wouldn't charge brashly in and ruin what little civility remained here. 'May I ask why not?' she asked the maitrakh.
'Did you serve the Emperor?' the other countered. 'Do you now serve our lord, the Grand Admiral?'
'No, to both questions,' Leia told her.
'Then you bring discord and poison among us,' the maitrakh concluded darkly. 'Discord between what was and what now is.' She shook her head. 'We do not need more discord on Honoghr, Lady Vader.'
The words were barely out of her mouth when the doors behind Leia swung open again and Chewbacca strode into the room. The maitrakh started at the sight of the Wookiee, and one of the other Noghri uttered something startled sounding. But any further reactions were cut off by Chewbacca's snarled warning. 'Are you sure they're Imperials?' Leia asked, a cold fist clutching her heart. No, she pleaded silently. Not now. Not yet. The Wookiee growled the obvious: that a pair of Lambda-class shuttles coming from orbit and from the direction of the city of Nystao could hardly be anything else.
Khabarakh moved up beside the maitrakh, said something urgently in his own language. 'He says he has sworn protection to us,' Threepio translated. 'He asks that the pledge be honored.' For a long moment Leia thought the maitrakh was going to refuse. Then, with a sigh, she bowed her head slightly. 'Come with me,' Khabarakh said to Leia, brushing past her and Chewbacca to the door. 'The maitrakh has agreed to hide you from our lord the Grand Admiral, at least for now.'
'Where are we going?' Leia asked as they followed him out into the night.
'Your droid and your analysis equipment I will hide among the decon droids that are stored for the night in an outer shed,' the Noghri explained, pointing to a windowless building fifty meters away. You and the Wookiee will be more of a problem. If the Imperials have sensor equipment with them, your life-sign profiles will register as different from Noghri.'
